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The Career Lattice

Lattice as Scenic Route

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An otherwise unremarkable career advice column makes a great point about a benefit of latticing: When you take lateral turns in related departments, you gain insights into how your organization works.  You not only make good connections, but you also see how the moving parts mesh.

I absorbed this lesson when I spent seven years writing for a magazine about debt collection. Not too glamorous, but I did learn a lot: about human nature, about how people soldier on in an unpopular career, and about how much of the organization’s mission breaks down  when people don’t pay their bills.

Sales don’t count unless customers pay.

Marketing doesn’t mean much unless it attracts customers who are willing to buy what you are selling.

Operations is falling down on the job when it delivers goods and services that are so damaged that customers can’t use them or won’t pay for them.

And if customer service isn’t serving, frustrated customers resort to refusing to pay their bill. Their calls might go to voice mail. Their emails might disappear into the ether. But if they don’t pay their bill, they get attention.

Of course, at that point, the collection staff is the only thing that stands between the complete loss of the customer (and all future sales from that customer, plus the defection of that customer to a competitor, which translates to lost market share). It all rolls downhill and lands in their laps.

They clean up the messes left by the rest of the company.

Some smart organizations requires up-and-comers to rotate through many departments, observing how the gears fit together. If they’re really smart, they have them spend a few days dealing with that most tiresome of all creatures, the public, by working the phones in the customer service center or in the collection department.

Adopt the same attitude for your lateral move. You’re seeing the same organization from a different perch.  How are the culture, terms, and approach different from your prior position?  What you see informs the job you have today — and the job you’ll land tomorrow.

How Do You Know How To Grow?

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Latticing sounds great! How do I know which way to grow?

When you start to look around for career growth, rather than just up, a new world of options opens up. How do you narrow down the possibilities?

Here’s how to get a grip on your lattice.

First, don’t assume that the training your employer provides or encourages you to get is the best  strategic fit for your career growth.

The Accenture Skills Gap Study found that employees were most likely (52%) to have gained technical skills in the past five years. Lagging far behind were problem-solving skills (31%), analytical skills (26%) and managerial skills (21%). But guess what skills employers claim are in shortest supply? Yup: those know-it-when-they-see -it creative and problemsolving skills — the very ones that employers are least likely to pay for.

Scrutinize the skill sets and job descriptions of people who currently hold jobs you’d like to have. (LinkedIn and BranchOut are great sources for job-skills-peeping.)

Match up what they have that you lack.  What can you most likely get your employer to pay for? Technical skills, probably. You might have to gain creative, problemsolving and managerial skills by volunteering for leadership responsibilities on the job or in your off-hours.

Another way to tackle the where-to-start dilemma is to see how your situation compares to the norm. Leadership consulting firm PDI Ninth House recently tracked the strengths that men and women business leaders tended to have at various points in their careers. Both men and women senior leaders tend to be highly ranked on all skills.

But PDI found that middle management men are viewed as stronger in financial management and strategy; women are better at collaboration, trust, developing others, and customer needs.

Do your current strengths align with these gender norms? If so, you will need to explicitly pursue opportunities to backfill the skills usually considered a strength in the opposite gender.  As you do, build case studies that show your skills in action; your success stories will show how you demonstrate the skills used by current organizational leaders.

When a Vampire Determines Your Career

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You think it’s hard to sell through a new idea where you work?

Try reading the mind of editors. That’s what Danielle Egan-Miller does. She’s president of Brown & Miller Literary Associates and spoke at Pen to Digital Press: DIY Publishing in the Digital Age, hosted by Lawyers for the Creative Arts on February 11.  (I spoke too, with the irrepressible Shari Stauch of Shark Marketing, which helps authors build their audiences.)

If you wonder if publishers think that sticking a vampire into pretty much anything will make it sell…you’re almost right. (Hmmm…wonder how I could work vampires into  The Career Lattice? )

But Egan-Miller had good advice beyond vampires, and it’s relevant for everyone, not just aspiring and published authors: “Where do you want to be in four years?” she asked.  “Create a community for your work.”

Agents have become career coaches, helping authors build their audiences, keep on track with developing new ideas, and translate a flood of market data into guidance to keep projects relevant.  As you consider your career options on the lattice, apply Egan-Miller’s advice:

  • Who is your audience now? Who would you like to be your audience in four years?
  • Who among your colleagues helps you stay on track with projects? Can you ask that person to break down their time management skills so you can better understand and apply what they do right?
  • Who can help you filter industry trends to figure out which ones offer genuine opportunities for your career…and which trends are context?

 

 

Steal This Paragraph to Show Your Skills

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Cross-posted from our New Best Friends at Giggia.com, is this bit of wisdom on how to break through the competitive scrum to get the attention of a potential employer or client.

Show a Key Skill in Action

Here’s the magic key for freelancers and part timers who are pitching clients or applying for work: show a key skill in action, accomplishing a business result. Don’t just list your skills, and especially don’t just list your skills assuming that your work and credentials will speak for itself.

It won’t.

Pull together a couple of short case studies that show how your skills deliver business results. And segue into that by showing that you understand the types of business results that this potential client or employer needs to get.

Here’s an example:

“It’s likely that you would expect your new social media manager to increase awareness that directly translates to sales. I did just that for one of my freelance clients – a retailer that wanted to stand out at an upcoming community festival. Other retailers posted on Twitter and Facebook about their specials and hours. But I crafted a campaign that alternated special events for new and existing customers. That enabled the store staff to tailor their sales strategy accordingly, and enabled the store owner to see exactly which tactic was more profitable.”

If you want the job, show them how you’ll do it. 

– Joanne Cleaver, Director of Freelance Growth, Ebyline

Giggia recommends that you adapt the graf above for your cover letter. You’ve got my blessing — go ahead!